Iowa Issues Gun Permits To The Blind, Allowing Them To Carry In Public Ryan GrenobleThe Huffington PostSep 08, 2013 In a move sure to leave gun safety advocates scratching their heads, Iowa is issuing gun permits to the blind.

The permits allow legally blind applicants to purchase weapons and carry them in public. Per state law, any attempt to deny an Iowan these rights based on physical ability would be illegal, reports the Des Moines Register.

"When you shoot a gun, you take it out and point and shoot, and I don't necessarily think eyesight is necessary," said Michael Barber, a blind man interviewed by The Register at a gun store in Iowa last month.

The issue has also vexed local sheriffs -- the authorities tasked with reviewing applications -- with some in full support of the measure, and others against.

Explains Delaware County Sheriff John LeClere, "If you see nothing but a blurry mass in front of you, then I would say you probably shouldn't be shooting something.”

Counters Cedar County Sheriff Warren Wethington, who has a legally blind daughter, “If sheriffs spent more time trying to keep guns out of criminals’ hands and not people with disabilities, their time would be more productive.”

Iowans have always been able to carry a firearm in private, but a new law passed in 2011 extends that right to the public sphere while placing no limits on physical ability.

Federal law, in tandem with the Gun Control Act of 1968, also does nothing to limit the legally blind from owning a gun, leaving that issue for states to sort out individually. Kansas, for instance, altered their laws in 2010 to prohibit issuing concealed carry permits to anyone "suffering a physical infirmity which prevents the safe handling of a weapon."

In January of this year, shortly after the Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting, blind singer Stevie Wonder offered his thoughts on gun control in an interview with CNN's Piers Morgan. “Imagine me with a gun," he said. "It’s just crazy.”

You can be legally blind and still be able to see well enough to fire a gun or even drive a car. My high school band director was legally blind and he put together award winning marching band drills.

In North America and most of Europe, legal blindness is defined as visual acuity (vision) of 20/200 (6/60) or less in the better eye with best correction possible. This means that a legally blind individual would have to stand 20 feet (6.1 m) from an object to see it—with corrective lenses—with the same degree of clarity as a normally sighted person could from 200 feet (61 m). In many areas, people with average acuity who nonetheless have a visual field of less than 20 degrees (the norm being 180 degrees) are also classified as being legally blind. Approximately ten percent of those deemed legally blind, by any measure, have no vision. The rest have some vision, from light perception alone to relatively good acuity. Low vision is sometimes used to describe visual acuities from 20/70 to 20/200.[3]

By the 10th Revision of the WHO International Statistical Classification of Diseases, Injuries and Causes of Death, low vision is defined as visual acuity of less than 20/60 (6/18), but equal to or better than 20/200 (6/60), or corresponding visual field loss to less than 20 degrees, in the better eye with best possible correction. Blindness is defined as visual acuity of less than 20/400 (6/120), or corresponding visual field loss to less than 10 degrees, in the better eye with best possible correction.[4][5]

uh, that i have to say, no way. sorry, i think that if they can block really mentally ill from owning a gun, i think legally and morally, they can stop a blind person from owning. its not discrimination, its coming from a safety concern. i actually agree with Stevie, no offence, but i don't feel safe with a blind person CC. no thanks

My husband is legally blind without glasses. He has a concealed carry permit.

Quoting yourspecialkid:

You can be legally blind and still be able to see well enough to fire a gun or even drive a car. My high school band director was legally blind and he put together award winning marching band drills.

In North America and most of Europe, legal blindness is defined as visual acuity (vision) of 20/200 (6/60) or less in the better eye with best correction possible. This means that a legally blind individual would have to stand 20 feet (6.1 m) from an object to see it—with corrective lenses—with the same degree of clarity as a normally sighted person could from 200 feet (61 m). In many areas, people with average acuity who nonetheless have a visual field of less than 20 degrees (the norm being 180 degrees) are also classified as being legally blind. Approximately ten percent of those deemed legally blind, by any measure, have no vision. The rest have some vision, from light perception alone to relatively good acuity. Low vision is sometimes used to describe visual acuities from 20/70 to 20/200.[3]

By the 10th Revision of the WHO International Statistical Classification of Diseases, Injuries and Causes of Death, low vision is defined as visual acuity of less than 20/60 (6/18), but equal to or better than 20/200 (6/60), or corresponding visual field loss to less than 20 degrees, in the better eye with best possible correction. Blindness is defined as visual acuity of less than 20/400 (6/120), or corresponding visual field loss to less than 10 degrees, in the better eye with best possible correction.[4][5]

Wow. I can understand those who are 'legally blind' but have enough vision to distinguish, but this doesn't seem to state the difference between legally blind and actually blind. Actually blind people running around with guns scares me.